Shadow Wood Academy: Light in Darkness
by Sun and Moon Entity
Summary: A mysterious virus has swept across the Pokémon World, turning the normally peaceful creatures into savage killing machines. Fifteen years later, an academy that protects parts of Johto from the virus and the Shadow Pokémon in hopes of finding a cure. However, propaganda and prejudice will make it difficult...Rated T for strong language and violence. Contains multiple cameos.
1. Chapter 1: Escape to Sanctuary

_KKid: Well, it's been a while for this fic, guys. For those of you who don't know the history of Shadow Wood Academy, it first started under the tutelage of Unbiased Abyss as an OC submission fic. He discontinued it, but allowed me a chance to reboot the story. So I did, and I included even more OCs, bringing the total to over 40. But I soon lost the general taste for writing OC fics, and pursued other works. While this was going on, Unbiased Abyss posted a redux of his original story. It got the furthest out of any attempt, but as of now, has yet to be updated. I didn't want to see this fic die, so I gave the authoring job to Sun and Moon Entity (I'm still on board as editor and battle scene writing assistant). With this tag-team tandem, we hope that Shadow Wood Academy version Four is the lucky one that we can finish._

_We're reusing all of the old OCs, so for you old followers, that means that you don't have to repost them. For the new guys, I'm sorry, but we're locking submissions until further notice. You can check out the profiles on my personal forum, found on my profile. Also, a lot of the faculty is "borrowed" from other places, including Doctor Who, Code: LYOKO, and Negima, among others. This was done to increase the connection between certain characters, something some OC fics lack. By no means is this a crossover, however; they may be borrowed, they may talk and walk like they do, but their bios have been gutted and changed to fit to the storylines. A few of them even look a bit different!_

_Well, enough of my notes. I assume SaME wants a chance to speak as well. Or she already has, in which case you want to read the first chapter. Either way, I yield, and hope that you all enjoy, and read and review this fic. Ja ne, everyone!_

_- Ketchum Kid_

_SaME: Hey, y'all! Guess who has turned eighteen today~! My author's notes will be at the end of the chapters. So without further ado, here's Chapter 1._

**Shadow Wood Academy: The Hybrid Revolution**

**Chapter 1: Escape to Sanctuary**

Welcome to Shadow Wood Academy! This academy stands as a solid community of defense against the force of evil wanting to plunge the world into the blackest shadows of darkness, the deepest depths of chaos, and drag all of Pokémon and humanity to the very depths of fear and madness: the Shadow Virus, the Shadow Pokémon, and their insatiable hunger for destruction. To help vanquish the Shadow Virus, and to make sure that the Shadow Pokémon do not plunge the world into destruction, this academy was founded by the one scientist and self-proclaimed hero of the future, the mysterious person who is known only as The Doctor!

A six-foot man with grey-blue eyes and very curly-brown hair stepped in front of the projection screen, which had been showing various clips of the academy. He certainly didn't look like anyone who was in charge; in fact, he looked more like a hobo than anything else. He was wearing a red-brown blazer with sewn in elbow patches, a dark-brown cardigan with diamond shapes adorning the front, a pair of baggy, gray tweed trousers, and , and a big brown floppy hat. Most ridiculous of all was his long, multi-colored scarf, which dragged along the ground as he walked. A banner reading "Shadow Wood Academy" was projected above the man's head.

"That would be me," the man stated in a heavy British accent. "So basically, we're an organization that exists to restore order and preserve the notions of peace that once permeated throughout the world before the events of the Shadow Virus unfolded." He clapped his hands together. "I guess this isn't your typical academy, isn't it? Oh well, it's time to get to work. Those shadow pokémon aren't going to take care of themselves now, are they? Work hard, make the grade, and once again, welcome to Shadow Wood Academy!" The man ended with a toothy grin.

"Aaannd cut!" a blond-haired teen with black-rimmed glasses announced, having filmed the entire thing. He gave The Doctor a thumbs-up. "That was perfect, Doctor! I can get this put together and published before orientation tomorrow though don't expect me to be awake at the event."

"Excellent!" The Doctor walked away from the green screen behind him. He glanced around the room. There were several other people in the room, but all of them were asleep either on the floor or on the worn-out couch near the window. "Oh dear, is it that late already? Jeremie, what time is it?"

"It's almost two in the morning," Jeremie answered with a yawn, turning off the camera. The Doctor walked over to a cabinet and began to pull out folded sheets of blankets.

"Can you blame them? That one attack last week wrecked our storeroom and half of our supplies. If it wasn't for Topham and his big train sets, we wouldn't have more than a few days' worth of food." He started placing blankets, first over a girl with short pink hair.

"It seems like we've been doing a lot to get the new school year ready: training teachers, restocking on restocked supplies, upgrading the security system, working on your orientation video…and of course, defending the front. We just can't seem to catch a break." They finished with the blankets, and the two walked out of the room, The Doctor turning off all the lights.

"Hopefully, tomorrow marks the beginning of more teams like your Team Dragon's Fang to send out on patrols. I know you, Odd, and the rest of Team Dragon's Fang have been working really hard, knowing that you all have sacrificed your summer to do so...though, how did you get Odd to stay over?" Jeremie chuckled, and held up two fingers.

"Two words: Haruna Sataro." The Doctor chuckled.

"I had an inkling that your Smeargle friend had something to do with it. Fortunately, your girlfriend's father is making sure that nobody will have to go out to possible death. If things work in our favor, we should be able to eliminate the shadow virus within a year or two." Jeremie blushed, and pushed the bridge of his glasses.

"Uh, that's great, but we're not, uh, going out or anything." His friend raised an eyebrow. "Anyway, where are Odd and the others?"

"I've sent them to test the incoming freshmen." Now it was Jeremie's turn to be surprised.

"All of them? Doctor, I'm sorry for doubting you, but didn't you at least have one stay behind? We can't leave the school unprotected with all the Shadow Pokémon running around here. They closed off the Azalea Peninsula for a reason, after all." The Doctor chuckles as he opened the exit door.

"Jeremie, my boy, of course I've taken the academy's security on my mind before sending them off. I had asked Zale Gravestone to stay and patrol the area while the other three went on board. I'm sure he has enough faith in them that they will do just fine."

"So…where is he now?"

"I sent him to take care of some…important business."

* * *

I~+*=*+~I

* * *

"Yuna, Light Screen!" A Gardevoir placed her hands in front of her, just as a stream of fire came firing at her. Instead of engulfing the Embrace Pokémon, they simply curved off of an invisible bubble, rendering its occupants unharmed. The attack lasted for several seconds, combusting several parts of the surrounding forest. The temperature inside the protective bubble rose drastically, until finally, the attack ceased.

Out of one side of the flames were a white haired teen and his Gardevoir. On the other was the propagator of the flames: a Charizard with odd colorings.

_Zale! Are you okay?_ The teen nodded.

"I'm fine!" Suddenly, an all-too-familiar buzzing noise filled the air. He turned around. "Crap, that fire set off the local neighborhood watch!" Behind them were Bug Pokémon, displaced after the fires had destroyed their nests. Zale recognized a few of them: Ariados, Beedrill, Venomoth…all dangerous Pokémon when angry, which they were. "As if single Shadow Charizard wasn't enough. Yuna, after you make an opening for me, I want you to take care of those bugs! Leave the overgrown lizard to me!"

"_A-Alright!"_ Yuna acknowledged him via telepathy. Zale readied himself as she thrusted her arms forward, releasing a Psychic blast that parted the flames.

"Come at me, Charizard!" Zale charged through the opening, nearly running straight into the Charizard. The Flame Pokémon, caught off guard, swung its claws wildly at him, trying to decapitate the teen with a hasty Slash attack, but Zale ducked under the swinging arm, and actually grabbed hold of it. He threw himself around the Pokémon, and landed on its back. Charizard tried to throw the teen off, but to no avail.

"Hang on, Charizard," Zale muttered, finding a purple, eye-like marking behind its head. "I'm setting you free from your nightmare!" He unsheathed a dagger from his belt, and thrusted it deep into the marking.

The Charizard shrieked in pain, and began wobbling back and forth. Zale hastily pulled the dagger out of its head, jumped off, and landed on the ground, rolling clear of his enemy. The Flame Pokémon crashed to the ground, right where Zale had been a moment ago.. The buzzing around him ceased to silence, as the last enemy retreated into the darkness of Ilex Forest. Zale spotted Yuna, who seemed to be exhausted from the fight, and walked to her.

"Good work, Yuna," he stated, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I knew you could do it."

"_You're…welcome…brother…" _The Embrace Pokémon wobbled back and forth, before collapsing into Zale's arms.

"Jeez, try not to go all out all of the time-" Zale smiled, watching his Pokémon sleep in his arms. "-though that mentality has saved our skins more than a few times. Return, and have a well-deserved rest." As Yuna's form disappeared into her Pokéball, a soft growling noise was heard. Zale turned his head back at the Charizard. The Flame Pokémon was now normally colored, and showed no wounds on its body. It was standing up, facing Zale. The white haired teen reached for his dagger. "You wanna go another round?"

The Charizard snorted, and shook his head. Zale relaxed, and went over to the Flame Pokémon. His former adversary extended out its arm, its clawed hand balled into a fist. Understanding the gesture, Zale bumped fists with it, smiling.

"Yeah, no problem. Just be careful not to run into more Shadow Pokémon, okay?" The Charizard nodded before beating its wings and flying off into the dark night sky, its flaming tail the only sight of its location. Zale watched the Pokémon fly away for a few seconds, before he turned off into the forest, the dry leaves crunching beneath his feet as he raced off. , Eventually, he came across a small dirt trail, where a black hyper-bike with crimson spider web designs all over it was propped up. The white haired fighter sighed as he mounted the bike and put his helmet on. The engine roared to life, and he soon was on his way back to the academy.

Danger lurks in every corner of the area around the academy, consisting of Ilex Forest, Union Cave, the Ruins of Alph, and the remnants of Azalea Town, where it now proudly stands. The students of Shadow Wood are assigned to patrol and to protect the cities Goldenrod and Violet and their surrounding areas from Shadow Pokemon attacks. Even though the roads running through the area are extremely crude, they serve their purpose quite well. As he passed through Ilex Forest, Zale recalled the incidents that lead to the world being thrown into chaos.

The Shadow Virus's current form appeared about fifteen years ago, but it could really be traced to the First Shadow Pokémon incident about thirty years back in the Orre Region. An organization called Team Cipher attempted to control the entire region by artificially closing the hearts of Pokémon. They implanted a virus into the Pokémon, turning them into "shadows" of their former selves, and made them more aggressive and more violent than they would normally be. Fortunately, a nameless hero and his girlfriend managed to stop Cipher before they set their sights on loftier goals.

Then, five years later, a group of former Cipher executives resurrected the organization and not only restored the team to its former glory, came close to perfecting the process of closing a Pokémon's heart. Using a Lugia captured from the Whirl Islands, they nearly succeeded in taking over all of Orre, with all other regions undoubtedly next. Like the last time, however, a new hero rose to the occasion and, with the help of a Cipher Admin who had a change of heart, thwarted Cipher's plans.

While this was going on, the world saw the introduction of the Pokémon Hybrid. As the culmination of the Mew Cloning Project that had been funded by Team Rocket, these half-human, half-Pokémon were distinguished by two things: their ability to transform into a specific Pokémon and certain features of that Pokémon which stayed with them even in their human forms. With the ability to use Pokémon attacks, they were created to be Team Rocket's super soldiers in their ultimate bid to control the world. They managed to control Kanto, Johto, and parts of Hoenn and Sinnoh until a Pokémon master, a daughter of a gym leader, and their friends squashed Team Rocket out of existence and freed the hybrids.

Within ten years, the former Rocket Hybrids had settled across the world and became productive members of society. However, even though they were no longer under Team Rocket's control, the Hybrids still became subjected to prejudice from human society. Believing that Hybrids were inferior in many ways, many Humans barred Hybrids from several areas and treated the half-human creatures with little respect, even using derogatory names, such as "Morphs." Businesses began setting hours for who was allowed in from what-time to another-time. Some restaurants allowed only Humans to dine while Hybrids were completely rejected or given seats next to dumpsters. Schools became segregated, and, much to Zale's disdain, parents began disowning their own children if they refused to comply with segregation and hang out with their "freak" friends. Segregation soon got so bad that bitter tensions between the Humans and the Hybrids arose. Race riots broke out often, and stories about Hybrids attacking Humans soon became more and more common on the news with obvious amounts of biasness. It took all of the exhaustive effort of the Pokémon Leagues around the world to keep it at just that.

On another note, Hybrids also had the inability to become Pokémon trainers. The problem was not that they could not capture Pokémon like any other trainer or that the Pokémon Leagues banned them from competing (though a few of the less prestigious leagues did). The problem was that Pokémon simply would not listen to hybrids. Apparently, from what scientists had concluded from observing interactions between Hybrids and Pokémon, Pokémon considered hybrids as equals. Consequently, they refused to listen to commands from Hybrid trainers.

The race wars seemed inevitable, ready to explode into international conflict. Then the third shadow incident occurred.

Thanks to Team Rocket and the ongoing discrimination against Hybrids, Cipher managed to keep a low profile for years, regaining strength in order to return for a third and final time. Using gene splicing, they were able to create a foolproof method of creating a Shadow Pokémon, ones that could not be purified through traditional methods. The six heroes already mentioned banded together to stop Cipher once and for all. They almost succeeded when, in the final battle against the head of Cipher, something went terribly wrong. Without warning, the Shadow Pokémon went into fits of rage and refused to listen to even their own trainers' commands. They destroyed the entire Cipher complex. When people finally managed to get to the wrecked facility, all the victims they found were dead, and the bodies of the Six Heroic Trainers were never found.

Since then, one Shadow Pokémon became many. The shadow virus arose from the ruins and began infecting Pokémon from all around. Within five years, the virus had mutated to the point where it could affect even humans and strewed across the globe through migratory patterns in flying Pokémon and water Pokémon. Shadow Pokémon frequently ravaged the countryside, destroying just about anyone or anything within their path. Often, they can be distinguished by the reversal of colors. In other words, where one color should be on one part of the body, another color from another part of the body would be there. In the case of the Charizard that Zane had recently fought, it was cream-colored where it was supposed to be blue, blue where there should be orange, and orange where there was originally cream. In addition to the reversal of colors, Shadow Pokémon had an unusual eye-like purple mark on some part of their body. If something were to penetrate the skin beneath the mark, the Pokémon would heal and turn back to normal, and the virus would disappear from the Pokémon's body.

According to some scientific journals, the virus could be transmitted from either entering a being's body through normal routines, such as eating contaminated project, transfer from mother to offspring, or through physical contact, which was usually in some form of an attack, from a Shadow Pokémon via wounds, if the attacked being managed to survive. If a Pokémon was infected, it would be transformed into a shadow Pokémon in a twenty-four hour period; likewise, if a hybrid was infected, he or she would become a Shadow Hybrid. In contrast, if a human were to be infected, he or she would be forced to endure tremendous amounts of pain on a weekly basis. So far, the only way to cleanse out the virus in Pokémon is to pierce the purple markings, and there has yet to be a human cure.

Sighing, Zale reached the parking garage. He parked the motorbike, and then walked a short distance, pausing beneath a black-iron lamppost. His tired muscles relaxed as he breathed in the scent of freshly cut grass. After a few seconds, he walked along the stone paths lining the courtyard edges, observing the scenery on his way to his dorm, before changing course to the main building. Shadow Wood Academy stands in the Johto Region as the only building adequately protected against repeated Shadow Pokémon attacks. As an internationally opened school, the academy accepts almost anyone who is one-hundred percent willing to find a way to restore order and end the chaos around the world though that did not stop some Professors and students from displaying their own personal opinions (and forcing them onto others). With its Gothic architecture and beautiful gardens, the academy was truly an aesthetically pleasing work of art.

Within the two dormitories on campus, dubbed "Kurt" and "Bugsy" in honor of Azalea Town's most famous heroes, students have their own private wings, based upon the team they get assigned to. Teams are made up of three students and one "Team Leader" from the faculty. Each team member has his or her own studio with a small balcony, which seemed nice to Zale. He didn't want the fact that he slept with a fan on to disturb someone else's sleeping. Each team wing also has a common room, a kitchen for eating outside dining hall hours, and a situation room for taking on tasks.

A common day for students starts out with the opening of the dining hall for breakfast between six and seven-thirty in the morning. Then, from eight to four, students attend core classes mixed with special electives, tweaked to meet their specific fighting needs. When the school day ends, students have the privilege to hang around campus, practice their skills on the training fields, or even visit the nearby towns located about twenty miles away. Even for a school dedicated to research and combat training, Shadow Wood Academy still retained a high school-like feel to it, which Zale found rather pleasant.

The white-haired boy scaled a set of stairs inside the main building, until he reached the apex of the domed structure. He gazed into the horizon and smiled as he viewed the first glows of the rising sun. With one hand, he brushed his snow-white hair out of his face, and watched as the sun slowly rose over the hills. For almost every day of his life, Zale never missed the sun rise at the beginning of the day. He loves to greet the sun from the top of the main building. To him, it signals a new hope for the coming of a new day.

He let another soft smile grace his face, and then looked down, towards the mountains around Union Cave. A plume of smoke steadily moved down the side of a mountain, signaling that the academy's fast-approaching special train, which was returning from picking up new students to the academy, was near.

"Welcome, new arrivals, to Shadow Wood Academy!"

* * *

I~+*=*+~I

* * *

_SaME: Congratulations on making it past Chapter 1! As you guys have heard and can see, I've adopted SWA and am now co-writing with KKid. As he mentioned earlier, I have up to forty OCs in my possession. However, since this is my first time adopting a fic with so many OCs, I'm going to have to demote some of them to lesser roles or extras in the classroom. Some are guaranteed to have more appearances than others while some may have a character-of-the-day role. OCs that have already been featured in the original Shadow Wood Academy will still make their appearances in rewritten versions of the chapters, but that does not guarantee that they will have major roles or major supporting roles. If you are still interested in this fic, please review and PM either me or KKid if you want your OC in here._

_Anyway, thanks for reading, and please submit comments to that little box below. Visit Kkid's Discussion forum if you want to help shape the story or throw in suggestions for future scenes? The URLs are both in my profile and KKid's profile. Please note that updates on SWA will be skeptical. I don't publish chapters until I've prewritten at least two more future chapters._

_Until then, see y'all later!_

_-SaME_

_Trivia: The opening scene is a mimicry of an episode opening of another anime. Anyone want to guess which anime? Hint: Anyone know who Lord Death is?__  
_


	2. Chapter 2: Of Freshmen and Fresh People

_Hey guys, KKid here, for another exciting chapter of Shadow Wood Academy! We're winding the clock back a bit, because, despite what the last chapter led you to believe, Zale isn't the only main character to watch. And in order to meet them, we have to go a bit further back in that train's journey. So sit back and enjoy!_

_Ketchum Kid_

_P.S.: That guy who appears at the end of the story…yeah, I have no idea who he is either._

**Chapter 2: Of Freshmen and Fresh People**

In recent years, the end of the summer brings a rather unique event to the region of Johto. Not surprisingly, this has to do with Shadow Wood Academy. The day before the opening of the school year, two fast trains depart for the Academy, one from Lilycove City in Hoenn, and another from Sunnyshore Sity in Sinnoh. Each train stops at any city or town where a student of Shadow Wood Academy lives nearby. The trains meet up in Violet City, and combine for the final leg over the mountains towards the ruins of Azalea Town, where their lives as students began. The trains are heavily guarded to protect from Shadow Pokémon attacks, making this the only safe way for students to enter the Academy.

It was well into the night on this very day, at Olivine Central Station, where a boy was waiting with his family for this very train. He was pulling along two large suitcases, which rolled along with him down the platform. Strapped securely to his back was a large Zanbato sword, nearly as long as he was tall.

He approached a station attendant. "Excuse me, but is this platform 3?" The attendant turned to the boy with the chocolate brown hair.

"Ah, I see you're here for the Express to Shadow Wood!" he exclaimed. "May I see your ticket?" The teen took a ticket out of his pocket, and gave it to the station attendant. The attendant scanned the ticket against his blue Pokétch. After a few seconds, he returned the ticket to the boy. "Roy Scott, I should have recognized that name. I was a senior in the high school attached to your middle school when your name started to float around the city." Roy waved him off.

"Ah, no worries, sir. I only do what anyone else would do if they had the same abilities." He noticed that the attendant was now staring _behind_ him. He didn't need to turn around to know why. "Excuse me, but are my three siblings bothering you in any way?"

"Huh?" The attendant regained his composure. "Oh, sorry there. My parents are practically dead-set against Hybrids, so I have a habit of hesitating a bit when I see them. Personally, though, I find them fascinating."

"I see…" Roy pushed his frameless glasses against his nose. "Well, you have other passengers to worry about, so carry on."

"Will do. Good luck to all your days at Shadow Wood Academy! I know many a person and Hybrid will miss you here!" The attendant walked away to help other passengers, and Roy returned to his family. "Anyone else get an odd feeling from that guy?" Before he got an answer, his mom, Janet, embraced him into a tight hug. It was slightly awkward, since Roy was so much taller than she was.

"My little Scotti has grown up now," she commented sadly, a tear falling onto the platform "Mommy is going to miss you so much!"

"…you don't care about what I said, did you?" Roy sighed. "I'll miss you too, Mom," He gave her one last hug before she let go.

"Make me proud," she adds, giving him a kiss on the cheek. This made Roy blush.

"Mom, not in front of so many people…"

"Aw, who do ye see around here aside from ye family, Scotty me boy?" his father, Thomas, pointed out. "We can embarrass ye all we want, haha!" He slapped Roy on the back, making Roy cringe. "Make a difference out there, Scotti. Be heard, be strong, be proud. We Scots ought to stay tough, especially in this world. There's no time for us to be weak now." He ruffles his son's hair. "You know that whatever ye do is supported by all of us, so do what ye know is right, and make us proud." Roy smiled, nodding, and gave his father a thumbs-up.

"I will!" Janet cleared her throat.

"Now I know that this isn't a wedding or anything, but in honor of your acceptance and departure, we decided to give you a sort-of good luck package; something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. Kids? Time to say your goodbyes." The first to go up was boy, about Roy's age, with spiky blue hair. Out of a tiny hole in his pants was a black tail, which ended in a four-pointed yellow star.

"We're going in reverse order, actually," the boy admitted. "But before I give you the present, I want to say how much you've meant to me. Ever since you picked me up from that orphanage, you taught me that fighting isn't always the answer. And when I cut ties with those hybrid gangs that I was in, you were there to protect me when I was ambushed after school. Thanks a bunch, Roy." He embraced his foster brother.

"It's never a problem, Ricardo," Roy stated. "Help Dad out and don't cause any trouble while I'm gone, okay?" The Luxio Hybrid flashed a toothy grin, which showed off his canines.

"Only if I can still check out all of the hot girls!" he quipped, much to Roy's displeasure.

"Ricardo!" he yelled. "I said no trouble!"

"Chill out, bro!" Ricardo said, putting his hands up in defense. "I was only kidding! Maybe this will help you." He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small, blue box.

Roy took the box from his brother. "The something blue…I wonder what it is…" He opened the box. Inside was a royal-blue snowflake pendant. The teen picked up the black string, running his fingers down to the snowflake. As he looked into it, he could see the reflection from his eyes – one green, the other blue. An icy coldness emanated from the snowflake, almost as if it was real.

"No way…" he turned to Ricardo. "Where did you find this? I thought I lost it for good!" Ricardo put a hand on his side.

"It had fallen into your drawer. When I was helping you pack a few days ago, I discovered it buried underneath your socks."

"R-Really…?" Roy turned red in embarrassment. "I guess…I should stop checking the obvious places only, huh?"

"Yeah. You losing that snowflake is essentially losing the entire reason you applied to Shadow Wood Academy in the first place! I hope you didn't forget what this stands for, do you?"

"No…" he said solemnly, "I could never etch it out of my mind."

"Anyway, time's a-wasting." He turned around. "Oi, Yue, you're up next!" As Ricardo returned to his family, a girl, almost at his age and height, with long, waist-length chocolate brown hair, stepped out. She could have been his sister…if she didn't have a bushy tail sticking out of the bottom of her skirt, a mane of white fur around her neck, and ears at the top of her head that were similar to an Eevee's.

She shyly walked up to her brother. "U-Um, Roy, you know how that when I was adopted, I had been constantly bullied in school…?" Roy sighed.

"How could I? You were left besides a dumpster half-alive when I found you! If it wasn't for this…" He held the snowflake pendant. "…that's probably where you would have stayed." Yue cringed at the last part, but soon recovered.

"I…I still haven't gotten out of my shell completely yet, but you've been training me on how to use a sword alongside you. First, you were accompanying me to and from school, guarding me from their assaults. Then, as I got better at that, and more proficient at my attacks, you strayed behind further and further, out of sight eventually, but still close enough to come in if needed."

"Yeah. And this year, I stopped altogether."

"Right! They still bully me from time to time, but now I'm prepared for them. And guess what? Yesterday, I was accepted onto the school fencing team!" Roy was both surprised and amazed.

"Wow, really?! That's amazing!"

"It's all thanks to you, Roy! So, um, I guess what I'm getting at is, uh…" Her eyes began to water. "…come home in one piece." Roy smiled, and wrapped his arms around her.

"Don't worry, Yue," he answered." I'll be fine. What I'm worried about most is you. Promise me that you won't let those kids bully you at school, okay?" Yue nodded her head as she pulled away.

"I will."

"Don't just say that, now. Remember, I won't be here to help you. You're going to be the lone Scottish Sword in town." He eyed her teasingly, making her giggle.

"Okay, I promise I will!"

"I believe that one. Protect Ricardo and Amy for me, _especially_ Ricardo. I trust that he won't do anything stupid while I'm gone, but I can't always be too sure about him."

"Hey!" Ricardo burst out.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of them. Oh, and before you go-" Yue reached into her pocket "-I want you to have Asuna. Just remember to return her when you graduate." The Eevee Hybrid took out a keychain of a small, carrot-orange haired chibi-girl doll. Her long, long pigtails were tied up into ribbons that were decorated with bells, which clinked upon motion. At first, Roy couldn't accept it.

"Chibi-Asuna? Yue, I can't take that with me! I like Negima and all, but that was found along with you! It's the only link to your past!" He tried to give it back to Yue, but she refused.

"I'm telling you to take it with you. I'm done with my past; I'll live my life here, with all of you guys. Besides, she has your eyes." Roy finally took the doll into his hands, holding it as if it is the most precious thing in the whole world.

"Alright, if you say so," he assured her. "I'll take good care of her. In fact…" He took out a small metal chain, and ran it through the loop of the keychain. "...I had a feeling you were going to give this to me. So I'll place her in the one place I'll always remember her." He took out his sword, its silver edge and black blade glistening in the light of the station. He then looped the metal chain around the hilt of the sword, and attached the ends together. Roy then took a few hacks in the air, to see how it would hold up. The chain bounced, but thanks to an expanded outcropping at the edge of the hilt and the tight loop of the chain, it couldn't slide off. "Works well." Yue clapped her hands in happiness.

"It's perfect, Scotti! Thank you!" She hugged him one last time, before returning to her family.

"No, thank you…" He felt a tug on his pants leg. "Huh?" Looking down, he found the culprit to be a small girl, about six years in age. She was wearing a dress as well; after all, how else could six red tails fit through the pants of a child who can't yet tie her shoes? In addition, she was holding a sizeable box in her hands, about the length and width of a head.

Roy smiled, and bent down to the girl's height. "Hey, Amy."

"Are you leaving, Scotti?" she asked, giving Roy large, puppy-dog eyes. Roy could only keep his smile and ruffled her long, ginger hair.

"Yes, I am," he answered, giving Amy a hug. "But not for good. I'll be back, squirt. I promise. Help Mom and Yue out at home, and help Dad keep Ricardo out of trouble."

"I'm not that bad, am I?" Ricardo protests.

"Yes!" Yue and Roy blurted out together, making the rest of the family laugh.

"I will," Amy nodded. "And don't forget to write to your favorite sister."

"I will," Roy replied with a chuckle.

"Where's Negi?" she asked. "I want to say goodbye to him one last time." Roy realized something.

"I knew we were missing somebody," he said. Reaching for his belt, he took out a white Premier Ball that had been attached there. "Evocem Vos, Negi!" The Premier Ball opened with a sparkle, and right into Amy's arms appeared a Pikachu. A bit of a curiosity, it was more of a golden yellow than the usual electric yellow, and its ears were gray instead of black.

"Pikachu!" it chirped.

"Hey there, Negi!" Amy greeted, giving him a hug. "I'm going to miss you, pal."

"Cha, Pikachu-pi-pikachu-pi. Chu-chu-pikapi, pi-chu."

"You're right, it's not a goodbye yet, and speaking of parting, Brother, here's something for you." She handed Roy the box, which Negi was resting on. "I helped pick it out."

"For me?" He eyed the box. "These presents seem to be getting bigger as we go down the list. I wonder how they're hiding the 'something old.'" He didn't hear Ricardo's snicker. "Negi, why don't you have a crack at this?" The Pikachu made a salute at its trainer.

"Chu!" Negi opened up the packaging, and then dived into the box. A second later, the top of the box opened, revealing a black baseball cap. On the front of the hat was a yellow outline of a chibi-Pikachu. "Chaa!" If Roy didn't know that Negi was under the hat, he could have sworn that the hat was speaking to him.

"Woah!" he said in amazement. "So cool!" He took the hat off of his Pikachu, and placed it on his head. "How does it look, guys?"

"Fits you perfectly, dear," Janet answered him.

"Yeah!" Ricardo added. "It matches you perfectly!"

"Thank you so much, Amy!" Roy thanked, drawing his sister into one last hug. "I'm going to miss you, squirt. Be good for me!"

"I will, Scotti!" She returned to Janet, as Roy stood up once again. Negi crawled up his arm, taking a perch on top of the teen's new hat.

"So we have something blue, something borrowed, and something new. Now for something old" He paused. "Come to think of it, it's getting pretty close to arrival time, and I've yet to see –"

"Pikapi!" Roy looked down the platform towards where Negi was pointing. Running down the platform was a girl, a little shorter than him, with feathery, dark-blonde hair that fell to her chest. Her angelic-blue eyes bobbed up and down, as she waved her hand in a greeting towards Roy.

"Scotti! Hey!" The girl slowed to a stop in front of him, her large suitcase rolling behind her.

"Skyler!" Roy said with a grin. "I was getting worried that you weren't coming!" The girl bent down with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. "Geez, you need to get in shape, Sky!"

"Shut up!" Skyler wheezed, slapping his arm. "The bus was late getting here! It's not like I could fly or anything!" Roy started to laugh. "Huh?"

"Oh, nothing!" Roy replied with a grin. Skyler adjusted her denim jacket and looked at Roy's hat.

"Cool hat there, Scotti," she complimented. Suddenly, a wave of horror sunk into her. She turned around. "Oh no! Am I too late, Mrs. Scott?" Janet shook her head.

"You're just in time, Sky!" she replied. Roy was confused.

"In time for what?" he asked. Skyler turned around.

"Jeez, are you that dense there?" She placed her hands on her hips. "I'm the something old!"

"Huh?" Roy stated in surprise. "You?"

"What, we haven't known each other long enough? I don't have much in ways of a family besides you guys anyway." She bowed. "I leave you in my care!"

Roy blinked for a moment, the looked behind her towards his parents. "You went all out in planning this, didn't you?" Thomas grinned.

"What, we can't go all out for our son?" he asked. Roy smiled.

"It's perfect." He returned to Skylar. "Well, I guess I have two Pokémon to take care of now." This earned him another playful slap on the arm.

"Hey! Don't put me into a Pokéball now!" The two laughed, before banging their arms together and embracing. As they did, Roy noticed a light in the distance. It was slowly growing closer, accompanied by a chuffing sound.

"Looks like our ride's here," he noted. Everyone watched as the train whistled, before pulling onto their track. It was a majestic blue locomotive, with four front wheels, and six driving wheels. It hissed and squealed as it slowed to a stop, carrying a long rake of coaches behind it.

"Wow…" Amy awed. The locomotive stopped several yards away from them.

"That's the power of the 'Henry' Class," Ricardo stated. "I read that it used to be the backbone of the Mainland Railways before they electrified." The coach doors opened, beckoning Roy and Skyler to enter.

"Well, this is it for now," Roy said.

"Yes," Janet sighed.

"Good luck, ye two!" Thomas stated. They all hugged one last time.

"We'll see you in a year!" Skylar promised, as the two walked over to the open train door. The porter helped them with their luggage, and they entered the train car. The car was crowded, but there were still several seats left.

"Look," Skylar pointed. "There's one that's by your parents!" The two hurried to claim the seat. Once they did, Roy opened the window, and they waved to his family. A few minutes later, they saw the station attendant on the platform signal to the engine. Two quick blasts of the whistle were followed by the coach jerking. They were now on the move.

"Goodbye!" The two yelled out.

"Pika-pika!"

"We'll miss you!" Janet called out.

"Be sure to write to us!" Yue asked.

"And make sure not to let any of us down!" Ricardo added.

"We will!" Roy promised. They waved until the train was over the station points, and out of sight of the platform. The window was closed, and Roy began to put their luggage onto the overhead racks. He placed his sword up there as well.

"So…I guess this is it, huh?" Skyler mumbled. Roy nodded.

"Yeah. By the time the sun rises, we'll be attending one of the most prestigious schools in the world. I heard that it's so tough that if you don't give one-hundred and _ten _percent effort, you might as well drop out now."

"Are you feeling a little nervous?" his friend asked.

"A little bit," he admitted. "But I know Negi and I can handle the pressure. You?" Skyler nodded her head in reply, and smiled.

"If you say that you can handle it, then it should be perfectly fine for me."

"Why? Because I'll take out all of the tough opponents away from you?" That comment gave him a playful punch from Skyler.

"You jerk..."

* * *

I~+*=*+~I

* * *

A few hours later, along with many miles to the east, found the two trains at the combination point, Violet City Central Terminal. The Sinnoh Train had arrived first, and some of its passengers were already on the platform to get some fresh air by the time that the Hoenn train arrived. The plan at the station was that as the two locomotives were refueled by Water Pokémon, a diesel switcher would switch the Hoenn train onto the back of the Sinnoh train. The two engines would return to the head of the train, and they would get underway for the final leg over the mountains.

While this was happening, two Hybrids walked around the platform, taking in the students that were out or were stepping out onto the platform. One of them was a tall, muscular Duskull Hybrid; The other, a slightly shorter, female Absol Hybrid with unnaturally dark, almost black, purple hair.

"Meh, look at all these filthy humans, Tuneli" the Duskull Hybrid commented, adjusting the skull mask over his face. Tuenli shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly as a tan hand covered up a yawn.

"Eh, I wouldn't worry too much, Blake," she muttered, brushing her two long bangs out of her face. "I can see more than a few of our kind in here." Blake's ashen-grey, skeletal-like hands tighten into fists.

"As if there weren't already a lot of human students here already, Trick," he sneered, apparently using a nickname of hers. "The train you were on stopped in Sinnoh, Alima, Fiore, and Kanto. My train is from Hoenn, Jotho, and other parts of The Island. And even more people from Unova, Orre, and other places around the world are boarding here. Considering the amount of people going to this one school, a lot of applications were turned down, and many of them were probably us." Tuenli's bored, pitch-black eyes stared at the locomotive of their train, a 4-6-2 'Gordon' class. A worker was uncoupling it from the train.

"Well, at least we all weren't crammed on one big happy train ride over the entire country," she noted. "I just wish that we could just hurry up with this combine and get over to the academy." She paused. "Man, I wish we were still on that boat that ferried the train between Alima and The Island. That way, I could have a lot more fun with the people on there." Blake eyed her suspiciously.

"Since I wasn't there, enlighten me with what you did." Tuenli snickered, as a wide, all-knowing grin appeared on her face.

"What did I do? I had a blast! I managed to lock some idiot, human girls in a closet by telling them that Drew Hayden was there and wanted to play seven minutes in heaven with each and every one of them. They completely forgot that he was married to that May girl! I also pulled the bucket-of-water-on-top-of-the-door trick on someone, and he totally fell for it! I also scared the crap out of this random guy by popping up out of nowhere. Hehe, what a classic!" A mischievous twinkle appeared in her eyes, and she slyly rubbed her hands together. "I wonder what I can do once we get on the train."

"You do a fine job retaining your reputation throughout this," Blake sarcastically congratulated. "What are you going to do this time?"

"It's what I already did. I rigged the train a bit so that bubbles come out the train's funnel." The Duskull Hybrid was surprised.

"You didn't-" Just then, the engine started to pull away from the coaches. As it did so, bubbles begin to shoot out of its funnel, cutting Blake off mid-sentence. Students and workers alike looked around in confusion as a rain of bubbles descended lazily around the station.

"Hello?" the engineer said in surprise. "What's gotten into you, Gordon? We better inspect that funnel when we reach the refuel point; I'm sure that my Blaziken can do the trick…" Blake sighed exasperatedly, and rubbed his head.

"…I'm not going to even ask about the physics behind that…" he muttered. Tuneli simply smiled.

"They don't call us the Disaster Pokemon for nothing now, do they?"

"But you do realize that, this time, you've tampered with school property, right?" The girl simply waved him off nonchalantly.

"You're such a party-pooper, Blakey; it's just soap and water. As long as I'm not expelled, it's all harmless fun and games. Besides, who doesn't love bubbles?" She started to walk faster, and passed another passenger, a human girl. Immediately, something within Blake didn't like the girl with choppy, peacock blue and brown chest-length hair, with side-swept bangs that appeared to be held in by a few rhinestone-studded bobby pins. Soon, he found out why. The Duskull Hybrid's eyes widened in horror when the girl took out a pink bottle from her belt, and proceeded to pour a pink, gooey liquid right into Tuenli's path.

"Tuneli, look out!" But he was too late. As Tuneli turned back to see what was wrong, she stepped onto the puddle. Her foot slipped backwards, and she stumbled forward. A few steps later, she slammed into another person, knocking them both to the ground.

"What the hell?!" the teen, who was muscular and had raven-black hair, growled, and he ruthlessly pushed Tuenli off. "Watch where you're going, you freak!" He reached for his back, where a pitch-black Zanbato sword was secured. Its handle was bandage-wrapped. At an impulse, Tuenli rolled out of the way of the swing, thus preventing her from becoming mincemeat. The peacock-haired girl laughed hysterically in amusement, while Blake rushed over to Tuneli's side.

"Aw, that was so humiliating!" the girl laughed. "What a Morph! Raven, you should've seen the look on your face when that creature ran into you. Hahaha!" The girl pocketed the bottle, concealing the evidence.

"Trick, you're an Absol Hybrid, and you didn't foresee _this _happening?" Blake groaned. Tuneli tried to wipe the sticky, gooey liquid off herself, but to no avail.

"That's why we're called Hybrids, Blake," she retorted. "I'd like a piece of that –!"

"Filthy Morph!" The two's attention turned to the roaring teen with the Zanbato. Red and black eyes glared at them, as Raven tapped the tip of his sword onto the platform. Tuneli had accidentally created the perfect storm. With no other trains, the station staff was focused on the trains to Shadow Wood Academy, but when Tuneli's tampering had revealed itself, many of them went to help fix the locomotive. Now, the station didn't have enough staff to stop the escalating quarrel. "Aren't you going to apologize for running into me like that?"

"Why would I do that?" Tuenli snapped back, clenching her fists. "Your crazy friend spilt some freaky liquid onto the ground in front of me on purpose!"

"Tut-tut," the other girl said in mocking innocence, her doll-like face accentuating her bright, bubbly voice. "Now honestly, what would give me any reason to try and trip you? Morphs like you scare me anyway." She laughed again, irritating Tuneli to no end.

"Morph?!" she growled, gritting her teeth. "Why you little-! I ought to-!" Before Tuenli could advance on the girl, Blake held his arm out to block Tuenli.

"Quiet!" he ordered, holding her back. "I hate that derogative name as much as any other Hybrid, but that 'crazy friend' of that bastard happens to be Lollipop Lebedev." At the mention of Lolli's name, Tuenli cringed.

"You mean _the_ Lolli Lebedev who specializes in chemical attacks?" she asked, shuddering at the thought. Blake nodded grimly.

"Oh?" Lolli smirked victoriously. "Is the big, bad morph scared of an innocent little human like me?" Blake winced at the insult, drawing upon every amount of willpower he had in order to prevent himself from pouncing on her.

"You've at least got the little part right," he chuckled, "at least in the chest." Lolli shot him a glare. "You don't have to worry about me, you'll get your due when you're not expecting it. Besides, we're classmates now, so even though I hate your weak, filthy guts, and you hate mine in return, we can't kill each other over that fact alone." Raven began to chuckle. More warning bells went off inside Blake's mind. "What's so funny, insolent human?"

"You stupid, stupid morph," Raven taunted. "Do you honestly know why I'm coming to Shadow Wood Academy in the first place?"

"Don't play dumb, red eye!" Tuenli demanded, glaring straight into Raven's eyes. "Everyone here either wants to protect the citizens of Southern Johto, find a cure for the Shadow Virus, or do both!" Raven shook his head.

"Sadly, I don't fall under any of those categories," he replied. He lifted his Zanbato out of the ground, and placed it onto his shoulder. Blake marveled at the strength that was needed to even do that. "I hate you Morphs."

"You don't need to waste your breath telling us," Blake groaned. "We've gotten the message already." Tuenli was seething in fury, but the last shred of reason inside her made her stop.

"No!" Raven continued, his anger escalating by the second. "You…you don't understand! You filthy monsters ruined my life! You took the thing that was most precious to me away, just like that! You know what I vowed to myself after that?"

"To head up to the Pokemon League and become ambassador to the Hybrids?" Tuenli guessed sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest.

"To shut the hell up?" Blake suggested, rolling his eyes.

"To go to your happy place?" Everyone stared at Lolli in confusion. "What? I'd do that in a heartbeat."

"Sadly, you three all missed the point," Raven answered, removing the Zanbato off of his shoulder. "I vowed to myself that I'm going to go to Shadow Wood Academy so that I can obtain the power to eliminate all you psychopathic freaks of nature! And since you forced the issue, I'll start with you two!"

Without any warning, he lifted his Zanbato high above his head. Tuneli and Blake gasped, and tried to run out of the way, but they suddenly found their path blocked by a massive Yanmega, emphasis on the mega in its name. The Duskull Hybrid was safe; he could simply phase through the blade if he wanted to. However, Tuneli didn't have that ability. The Absol Hybrid turned her head towards the oncoming sword, eyes wide in horror as she lifted her arms to defend herself. She closed her eyes when the Zanbato literally was within inches from her face, bracing for the painful impact, with the last thing that she heard in her life being Lolli's delighted shouts for more pain.

**!KLANG!**

Nothing happened for some time. Tuneli imagined that this must be how the afterlife is; a cold, desolate, dark place.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked. Tuneli was surprised. It looked so dark and bleak in this world. Maybe Arceus had…

"Tuneli!" Blake's voice now….was she in heaven? And why didn't Blake save his own life? He surely had the ability to do so.

"No…no way…"

Okay. If that Raven kid was here, then she was either in the worst pit of hell imaginable, or she was somehow still alive.

Hesitantly opens her eyes, she found that it was the latter. As well, the Zanbato sword which was mere inches away from her face was, in fact, not Raven's. This sword was a bright, glistening silver, not the midnight black that comprised up Raven's sword. In addition, she didn't remember Raven having a doll on his sword…

Roy smirked. "Whew! I'm glad to see that my arm has gotten a lot stronger." He applied force onto his sword, and knocked Raven's Zanbato away.

Blake blinked in surprise. They had just been saved by a complete stranger – a human, no less – and here he is, saying that he might not have saved them? "You mean that you didn't think that you would block Raven's attack without Trick getting injured in the process?" Roy gave a sheepish laugh, eyes still on Raven.

"Ehehe, I'd be lying if I said no," he admitted. "Considering that your friend here would have gotten hurt or much worse if I didn't step in, I think that it was a necessary but calculating risk."

"So, basically, I was saved on a hunch?" Tuenli asked in disbelief.

"Uh…yeah. Pretty much."

"Idiot…" Blake grumbled, slapping his forehead. Lolli, surprisingly, was impressed. There were twinkles in her eyes as she applauded him.

"What a genius!" she remarked. "Such rash and reckless actions…so much pain and suffering that can happen! Plus, you're rather cute!"

"I don't know what's worse," Tuneli mumbled. "This kid's recklessness or that girl's craziness." Roy waved Lolli off.

"Sorry, but a Scot like me stays on the path of righteousness. I'm flattered, but you'll need to show me something else to get my number." The psychopath girl placed her hands on her hips.

"A tough-to-get type, huh? Well, I guess my Yanmega will have to play matchmaker for us! Gristle, use Ancientpower!"

"Yan!" The monster-sized Ogre Darner Pokemon formed a large rock in front of its mouth, ready to thrust it towards the three.

"Do you have any more quick-thinking ideas?" Blake asked. Roy smiled.

"Just one," he said. He raised his left hand into the air. "My vintage attack! Volt Tackle!"

Out of seemingly nowhere, a dart of bright yellow electricity slammed into Gristle. The Yanmega yelped in surprise, its attack failing, and was forced into the platform. It tumbled into Lolli, knocking her over.

"Oof!" It took a second for her to recover. "What did you just do to my-!" She cut herself off, as the electricity around the 'dart' dissipated, sparking occasionally out of the cheeks of its source. "A shiny Pikachu?"

"Excellent timing, Negi!" Roy applauded.

"Pikachu!" The Electric Mouse Pokemon turned towards Lolli. "Pika! Pikachu-pi-pika-pikachu!"

"I'm not translating that," Blake decided. Roy decided to turn his attention back to Raven.

"A hybrid-hater, aren't you, Raven? I heard that little speech you gave earlier." Raven was still speechless.

"You…how dare you-!"

"Save it, kid," Roy ordered as he placed his Zanbato back into its holder. "Those station workers are coming back, so it might be good to put it away like I'm doing. And even without my sword, Negi here can still beat the pulp out of either you or your Pokemon. He's much faster than a normal Pikachu, you see."

"Kachu!"

"So, I've got a question for you, Raven. Do you still have some punch left in you, and risk getting arrested and expelled before even setting foot on campus? Or are you just so upset that I stopped your little crusade that you'll kindly leave these people alone? Oh, and while we're at it, don't even think of laying so much as a finger on any other Hybrid at the academy, especially when I'm a student there as well."

"Pika!" Negi hopped onto Roy's shoulder. Clenching his teeth, Raven reached for the pokéball on his belt. As he did so, a clunk was heard on the track next to them. The two trains had been coupled together. The overhead announcement system clicked on.

*ATTENTION ALL PASSENGERS OF THE SHADOW WOOD EXPRESS, THE TRAIN WILL BE DEPARTING IN FIFTEEN MINUTES. ALL PASSENGERS ON THE PLATFORM PLEASE RETURN TO THE TRAIN ON TRACK 4 AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THE TRAIN WILL LEAVE PROMPTLY IN FIFTEEN MINUTES. THANK YOU.*

"Scotti!" Skyler ran towards the scene. "I leave for the bathroom for one minute, and you go running – huh?" Her gaze went from Roy and Negi, to Raven, then Tuneli and Blake, and finally Lolli and Bristle. "Roy? What's going on?" Lolli connected the name to something in her head.

"Roy Scott?" she mouthed in awe. Raven muttered something, and sheathed his Zanbato.

"Ngh…You win for now." He pointed at Roy. "But here's a fair warning: you've just made your first enemy here at Shadow Wood. I will not stop at my mission, and there's nothing that you or anyone else can do to convince me otherwise!" He turned around, and stormed away. Lolli watched him leave, before recalling Gristle. She got up off the platform, and walked over towards Roy, steering clear of Tuneli and Blake.

"Why did you do it?" she asked. Roy didn't understand the question.

"Excuse me?"

"Why would you intervene on behalf of a messed up, inferior, freak of nature like that?" She pointed a French-manicured finger at Tuenli. The Absol Hybrid still hadn't settled down in temper.

"You want to dance, you little iron board?!" she beckoned. "Then bring on the music!" Blake quickly grabbed Tuenli again.

"Did you forget my warning?!" he asked.

"Shaddup! I can take her!" Roy looked at the scene, and then back disapprovingly at Lolli.

"Do you seriously think of someone like her as a 'thing'?" he asked. "I mean, sure, they do look different from us humans, have powers we can only access through our Pokemon, and can achieve many things that we fail to comprehend. But as you see, they have the same emotions, the same feelings, as us. They think, they learn, they cry, they scream, all just like us." He paused impressively. "I understand the current viewpoints of Hybrids by us humans, and I'm not going to deny that they never existed. However, I will deny my support of those racist views. I don't see them as Hybrids, or 'Morphs,' as you like to call them. They're exactly like us, granted with spectacular and amazing powers that we can never achieve even with the most advanced technology. Soon, they will have their Ghandi, their King, will come, and we will realize that humans and Hybrids are not as different as they appear to be." Lolli stared blankly at Roy for a few seconds. Then, she gave him a small applaud.

"Bravo!" she replied, oozing with sarcasm. "Beautiful speech! But totally wasted on a person like me. You see, morality doesn't affect me one little bit, and to tell the truth, I only hate them because they scare the crap out of me. But you disgust me. Yeah, you're a real hottie and all, but I wish you didn't hang with those creepy morphs. I guess you haven't met any street morphs though. You're so stupid if you think that just being a morph makes them nice. They're humans gone wrong. They hurt people like normal people hurt others, and I think that one over there-" She points at Blake. "-would be one of the first to do so." She stopped for a second, and pulled closer to Roy. The girl ran a finger over his face. "And yet, I still feel attracted to you. Maybe for the reason's that wrench my stomach… " She turned on the two-inch heels of her suede ankle boots, and began to strut away. She continued to talk, however. "I will see you at the Academy, Roy Scott. If you survive up to that point, that is. Hahaha! That boy is gonna die! Die, die, die!" She walked down the platform, far away from them, and disappeared into the door of one of the coaches.

"And she calls us freaks," Tuenli muttered.

"No offense," Skyler warned, "But when you're dripping in pink ooze of…who-knows-what, I'd have to agree. What happened, anyway?"

"That psycho Lolli made me slip in a puddle of..." she sniffed her arm. "What is this even, anyway? Pepto-Bismol?" Roy chuckled.

"Maybe, but we'd better get it off of you. I'm sure we can find a Water-Type Hybrid or someone with a Water Pokemon somewhere on this train…"

* * *

I~+*=*+~I

* * *

Sure enough, an upper-classman and his Wartortle were more than happy to help. With ten minutes before departure, Tuneli was wringing out her shirt. She was rather glad that she had a change of clothing back in the coach. "Last time I walk past her without a care."

"Pika," Negi agreed.

"We'd better keep an eye on her, then," Skyler noted. Blake turned to face her and her Roy.

"Lolli's right on one count, though," he said. "I'm not a fan of you humans, and if given the right provocation, I would not hesitate to kill you. But unlike me, some hybrids wouldn't hesitate to kill you at just your mere presence alone. So be careful." Roy nods his head in response.

"Well then, I'll make sure not to get on your bad side, Mr….uh…what's your name?" The Duskull Hybrid scoffed at the question.

"None of your-"

"**There you are, Blake!"** Blake cringed at the sound of that female voice.

"Oh, no…" A girl with waist-long, raven-colored hair tied into a ponytail ran up towards the group. Her aviator goggles bounced over her eyes as she stopped, and she had to prop them back onto her forehead. The girl glanced between the Duskull Hybrid and Tuenli, bright amber-brown eyes eyeing both of them sternly. "Where were you two? I thought you both were following me to the station bakery here until I tripped, and saw you two weren't behind me. I had to look all over the station for you guys!" Blake merely stared at the girl, although Skyler noticed that his left eye was twitching uncontrollably beneath his mask.

"Since when did I say that we were following you, annoying human?" he retorted rudely. The girl retained her stern look. For once, Tuneli became the voice of reason.

"We were attacked by two other students named Raven and Lolli, Hakase," Tuenli explained. "Apparently, Lolli thought having someone slip on soap was funny…" The girl shifted her focus onto Tuenli, her eyes widening in surprise.

"No way! Are you serious? _The_ Lollipop Lebedev attacked you in broad daylight, er, nightlight?" She grabbed Tuenli's shoulders and shook the Absol Hybrid violently. "How'd you two defeat them? Tell me!"

"Hey!" Blake snapped, feeling ignored. "Answer my question, you dumb human!" Nobody paid attention to him. Tuneli tried to speak

"A-A-Actual-l-l-l-ly…H-Hakase, can you st-stop sh-shaking m-me?" The girl let go of Tuenli, who quickly regained composure. "Actually, it was mostly Raven who attacked us. If it wasn't for these two,-" Tuenli points at Roy and Skyler, the two of them giggling at the trio. "-I'd been a goner." The girl turned to the two and bowed towards them.

"Thank you so much for saving Blake and Tuneli," she said. "It's nice to know that there are some people who believe Hybrids are equals."

"Er, your welcome," Roy replied. "I'm glad that –"

"And to think that there are those who want to kill them all off!" the girl continued, cutting Roy mid-sentence. The teen glanced over at Skyler, who merely shrugged. "How can people do such a thing? It's terrible!" Hearing this, Roy sighed and clutched his snowflake pendant.

"I know how you feel…" He trailed off, the icy coldness of the pendant matching his mood. The girl stopped her monologue, and realized what she had touched upon.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry…I didn't mean to make you feel a little…" Quickly, she held an outstretched brown leather-gloved hand towards him. "My name's Aliyah Mikage, from Verdanturf Town!" She jabs a thumb at Blake behind her. "Mr. Melancholy over there is Blake Charon from Fortree City."

"Get your wordings right, woman!" Blake spat. "I'm ticked off, not melancholy!"

"Quiet, you!"

"Don't tell me to-!" The verbal argument continued for a bit longer.

"Are they always like this?" Skyler asked Tuneli, watching the little quarrel.

"Yeah…" Tuenli drawled, staring at Blake and Aliyah. "I haven't met them until a few minutes ago, but this seems to be their mode of conduct." She turned towards Roy and Skyler. "I guess I should do it before Hakase does. Name's Tuenli Saru, an Absol Hybrid from Twinleaf. But call me 'Trick;' otherwise-" She placed her hands in her pockets, a suddenly serious expression on her face. "-you die..." Skyler giggled in amusement.

"We'll make sure to remember that. I'm Skyler Lightheart from Olivine City."

"And my name is Roy Scott, also from Olivine. You've met my partner Negi already."

"Pikachu!"

"Nice to meet you guys," Tuenli replied, extending each of her hands towards Roy and Skyler. Aliyah and Blake pause in the middle of their argument long enough to look over at Tuenli and widen their eyes.

"Oi! I wouldn't take those hands if I were you!" Unfortunately, Aliyah's warning came too late, and as soon as Roy and Skyler took Tuenli's hands, they felt a small but significant shock pulse through each of their hands.

"Ow!" Roy jumped, shaking his hand like it was on fire.

"What in the world-" Skyler exclaimed in surprise. Tuenli laughed, and held her hands up, showing two small red buttons attached to her palms. Blake sighed and slaps his forehead.

"They call her 'Trick' for a reason," he muttered. Roy laughed nervously, and adjusts his glasses.

"I can see why. While we're still on the subject of nicknames, please call me 'Scotti.' Roy is too bland for my taste, and since you two didn't get his name, here's Negi." He affectionately petted the Electric Mouse Pokemon's head.

"Pikachu!" Negi replied, flashing a peace sign. Aliyah instantly fell in love with the creature.

"Aw, he's so cute!" she complimented. "May I hold him?"

"What say you, Negi?" Roy asked. Negi nodded.

"Pika!"

"I can't say no to that." Roy took Negi off his shoulder and handed him to Aliyah. Tuenli groaned, and muttered something about "girl stereotypes," but paused when she noticed Aliyah's gaze soften.

"He's so plush. I wish Iris could hold him…"

"Huh?"

"Who?"

"Hakase, what are you talking about?" Before Aliyah could answer, Negi exhaled in her face.

"Phew!" Aliyah comments, wrinkling her nose. "I'm guessing the naming wasn't accidental?" She looks over at Roy, who simply laughed in reply.

"Right from the egg, he had a thing for leeks and onions. I've never figured-"

**!FWEEEET!**

"Ah!" Skyler clutched her ears in pain, dropping to her knees. Roy went over, and helped her back up.

"You okay, Sky?" he asked. Skyler nodded.

"How'd that hurt?" Tuenli asked, raising an eyebrow. "It was only the conductor's whistle."

"S-Sensitive hearing," Skyler squeaked meekly.

"All aboard!" the conductor shouted from afar. "You guys are the last ones!" Aliyah looks towards the front of the train, then the back. Indeed, the platform was empty, and a red tail lamp swung in the distance.

" I guess we better get on," she decided. "It'll be a loss if Shadow Wood loses us!" She grabbed Blake by the wrist, dragged him along to their coach.

"Hey! Let go of me!" he demanded, struggling to get out of her surprisingly strong grip.

"No way! I've never met a Duskull Hybrid before! I want to ask you a few question; therefore, we're sitting next to each other. For the entire ride." Blake began to panic.

"Who agreed to that?! Unhand me this instant, human!"

"No, and be quiet! Don't make a scene; people are staring at us!"

"Dammit!"

"No cursing, either!" Roy, Skyler, and Tuenli watched the scene in amusement as the two disappear onto the train.

"We should head in too," Skyler says. "We don't want all of our stuff to be stolen."

"Good idea," Tuenli replied. "My train had a baggage car, so all of our belongings were placed in there. I guess I can see if I can join you guys; my seatmate had been a creepy Slowking-Hybrid." She suddenly tagged Roy. "Tag! Last one to the coach gets the aisle seat!" Then she turned, and raced towards the train.

"Hey! No fair!" Roy shouted, laughing. "You got a head start! Cheater!" Skyler laughed, and patted his back.

"She's got you beat," the blonde-haired girl commented, before repeating Tuenli's gesture. "Tag, you're it!"

"What? You too, Sky!" Roy laughs, having to race aboard. "Traitors!" He attempted to catch up to them, but his Zanbato weighed him down. Shortly after the three had gotten aboard, the red tail light of the trailing locomotive – number three – backed down onto the train, and coupled up. Number four, the lead locomotive, gave two whistle blasts, having received the green signal earlier ahead. The wheels of both locomotives began to turn forward, and began to pull the train out of the station. The train snaked its way out of the station, and onto the main line.

The sound of steam echoed throughout the countryside, as the train came across an abandoned village several miles outside of the city. The town was in ruin, no doubt from an attack from a Shadow Pokémon, and the station platform was overgrown and crumbling. Only the signal box attached to the end of the platform was lit and maintained. Three whistle blasts signaled the box operator to change the points. A wooden semaphore at the end of the platform, fell from ninety degrees to forty-five down, and the adjoining colorlight signal flashed from green to yellow. This was the signal to change tracks onto the Azalea line.

A bit further off in the distance, the train changed direction, moving onto a curved line. Here, the overhead catenary supports lay along the roadbed, knocked off of their supports, and the wires that they once held long removed. Twisted rails that were from a second track piled up in a mangled heap, indicating that very few trains still plied these tracks. One of the few that still did swung out, charging towards Shadow Wood Academy, its headlight showing the way.

And showing where it was.

On the abandoned platform, a teen watched the train clatter off into the distance. He had on a black baseball cap, and wore a white collared shirt over a black long-sleeved tee, khaki pants, and green shoes. Numerous bracelets lined his wrists, a puzzle cube dangled from his pocket, and a necklace of a black sphere with twin discs hung around his neck. Long, green hair waved in the wind, as the sound of the switches resetting to their normal positions could be heard.

"Shadow Wood Academy…" he said aloud. "Show me and the world what kind of path you and your partners aspire towards to!" Overhead, a clap of thunder could be heard, while a stream of fire streaked across the sky.

* * *

I~+*=*+~I

* * *

_SaME: I'm aiming to get at least one chapter out per month or two at most. We hope you enjoyed chapter two. _

_Trivia: Any of you guys caught any shout-outs in there?_

_-SaME_


	3. Chapter 3: One Long, Bumpy Ride

_Well, I have nobody to blame but myself for the significant delay of this chapter. I've been sitting on the editing of this over the fall, and much of the winter, as College had me slacking off big time. Now, however, I can say I have a handle on my workload, and can get back to writing. So we'll get back to the story here, and I hope you enjoy this story. Only one more chapter to go before the remix stops, and we get to original story content._

_Ketchum Kid_

_Hey, everybody! Sorry for taking so long with this chapter. I had to make a couple of edits between this chapter and the previous chapter since there was an accidental repeat of a scene. Anyway, thankfully this chapter is up. Happy early Lunar New Year to you all! Enjoy the show! _

_-SaME_

**Chapter 3: One Long, Bumpy Ride**

"Here. We'll sit here," Aliyah said. The Hoenn native pushed Blake into a seat before plopping right next to him. She then began looking left and right, analyzing the other passengers in their car. "Wow! Look at all the other Hybrids on the train!" Blake groaned and rubbed his forehead.

"Why the hell-?"

"No cursing!"

"Why do I have to deal with you of all people? Why of all freaks did it have to be you?"

"Because I'm friendly. I'm social. I like Hybrids, and I look out for my friends."

"Since when were we friends?"

"Since I met you and Trick on the train ferry to Johto."

"Trick tried pulling a prank on you, and it didn't work."

"So? I made new friends."

"You followed us around after that!"

**"Excuse me?"**

"What?-!" Blake growled, shifting his glare to a Growlithe Hybrid sitting in the seat behind the duo. The Hybrid's amber eyes stared in annoyance at Blake, and one of his orange, black-striped ears twitched. Scowling, Blake turned away and crossed his arms in ignorance.

"Blake, that's not nice…"Aliyah scolded. She then turned to face the Growlithe Hybrid. "I'm sorry. My friend is a little-"

"Quit calling me your friend!" Blake demands. "We were never friends!" The Growlithe Hybrid blowed a few strands of his fire-red, black-and-white streaked hair out of his face.

"I…see," he muttered. "I was just going to ask if you guys can keep your voices down. It has been a long trip, and some of us are trying to catch a few z's before we reach the Academy."

"Sorry, our bad," Aliyah replied, before stretching a hand out towards him. "I'm Aliyah Mikage. What's your name?" The Growlithe Hybrid yawned and offered a hand.

"Name's Gardie Conleth," he replied, shaking the offered hand, "like that outfielder for the Castelia City Yankees. I'm from Cinnabar. What about your friend there?"

"Blake," Blake answered before Aliyah can. "Blake Charon. Don't forget it." Gardie offered Blake a hand, but the Duskull Hybrid never turned around.

"Nice meeting you too," the grow lithe-hybrid muttered.

"Ehehe, he's little…grumpy," Aliyah admitted, waving a hand dismissively. "Don't mind him."

**"E-Excuse me…?"**Blake turned his head to find that a young Glaceon Hybrid standing next to him in the aisle. Her blue ears drooped from her light-brown hair, which fell somewhat jaggedly to her chest. Her tail swayed slightly, tapping ever so slightly against the two katana swords sheathed into an X-shaped holder on her back. Her sparkling silver-blue eyes gazed shyly at Blake, causing hin to feel a slight, uncomfortable jerk in his chest. He looked away, and tapped the shoulder of his seatmate.

"Huh?" Aliyah looked at him curiously.

"For once, I actually want you to interact with others so that I don't have to." Blake pointed at the Glaceon Hybrid. The girl shuffled her feet nervously.

"Ah…Um…Wh-Who are you?" Aliyah smiled, and held out a gloved-hand out towards the Glaceon Hybrid.

"Hi! I'm Aliyah Mikage. What's your name?"

"Um…err…ah…" Just then, a human girl wearing a red t-shirt walked up to the small group and stood next to the Glaceon Hybrid. The girl's shirt had a picture of Chuck Norris on the front, with the caption, _"Hybrids aren't freaks of nature. They're Chuck Norris's children"_ underneath.

'_Her hairstyle is similar to that Hybrid's,' _Blake thought. _'And they look very similar. But I don't recall a Hybrid looking like a human before, even if they are related by blood.' _

"Sorry," the human girl apologized, placing a hand on the Glaceon Hybrid's shoulder. "My sister is very shy towards strangers." Aliyah was surprised by this.

"Wait, you two are sisters? By blood?" The two siblings nodded. "Wow, I've never seen anything like this before. Anyway, I'm Aliyah Mikage, and I'm also from Hoenn. Nice to meet you two and this is-"

"Save it, woman," Blake commands, holding up a hand in front of her face. "I'm introducing myself. Blake Charon, and don't forget it."

"Eh. You've met me already," Gardie said nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.

"Nice meeting you guys," the human girl replied. "My name's Echo Greenleaf, and this is my sister Ali. We're from Slateport City."

"N-Nice to meet you…" Ali said softly.

"So you're from Hoenn too?" Aliyah stated. "I'm from Verdanturf."

"It's really nice to find someone else from Hoenn here as well," Echo stated. Ali nodded her head and smiled softly.

**"Hey, Echo, who are you talking two?"**

"Oh great," Blake groaned, slapping his forehead. "We're starting to meet people like they're being introduced as story protagonists." The new person was a girl wearing an orange knit hat with a brown outline of a chibi Eevee that covered the top of her waist-length caramel brown hair. She had a lean but slightly spindly figure. In her arms, an Eevee with a star on its forehead and green, orange-spotted bandana tied around its neck sat comfortably cuddled in its trainer's arms.

"Hey, Akina!" Echo said to the girl, putting a hand on Blake's shoulder. "This is Blake Charon and Aliyah Mikage." Blake jerked away from Echo's hand in disgust.

"Hands off me, human!"

"Nice to meet you two. I'm Akina Harino," the girl introduced herself, "and I'm from Hearthome City, and this is my little buddy, Kela-la."

"Eevee!"

"It's nice meeting you," Aliyah said. "I'd shake one of your hands, but they seem a bit…full."

"That's alright. Oh, have you met the attendant? She's really friendly. I think she might be a foreigner."

"Really? That's awesome!" Aliyah replied. "I haven't seen much of anyone not from Japan, though I think some people are here from the Unova region in the US."

**"Hey, guys!"** an Eevee Hybrid said, looking over at the group through her light-brown eyes, "I think the train is about to move. You might want to get back in your seats."

"Aw, let them have their fun, Kat," a female Pikachu Hybrid said, looking over at the group through her dark brown eyes and sitting next to the Eevee Hybrid. She brushed some of her wavy shoulder-length hair, which had a mixture of dark brown and black and some naturally pale blonde highlights. "Sorry about Katherine. Anyway, I'm Kellisa Moon from Celestic Town."

"It's so nice to meet you," Aliyah replied. Akina sighed.

"I guess we better get back into our seats before the train pulls forward."

"Yeah. Come on, Ali. We can talk to Blake and Aliyah later." As Echo and Akina return to their seats, Ali gives a shy wave to Aliyah and Blake before hurrying after Echo. Gardie yawned.

"Wake me up when we get there," he mumbled as he closes his eyes and lied in his seat. Aliyah smiled softly as she gazed at everyone in the car.

"They're so adorable on so many levels."

"You say that about every Hybrid…and Pokémon," Blake grunts. "I remember you even said that to a Grimer you saw on the ship…" She shrugs as she turned to him.

"Now then, there are a couple of questions I want to ask you about. First off, please tell me about that mask of yours? Were you born with it, or did you obtain it from somewhere? Why do you have so much muscle for a ghost-type? What does your main diet consist of? Is it the same diet as a regular Duskull, or more like a regular human's diet?..."

Blake sighed in exasperation, wondering if he's going to even last this torturous trip.

* * *

I~+*=*+~I

* * *

By the time he caught up with Tuenli and Skyler, they were giggling at the huffing and wheezing condition that Roy was in.

"How…did I…lose?" Roy gasps, struggling for air.

"It's because you have that giant-ass Zanbato with you, Baka!" Tuenli replied, and stuck her tongue at him. Roy raised a finger in protest, as the three climbed onto the train.

"Where did you get the 'Baka' from?" Roy asked. "You started this whirlwind game, after all."

"And you nearly killed me with a plan that you didn't think would work. Tell me how you don't deserve it?"

"Good point…But if I hadn't jumped in there-"

"U-Um, guys…?" Skyler interrupted, tapping Tuenli's shoulder. Roy and Tuenli look into the car's main compartment, and were met by dozens of icy-cold stares from most of the others students onboard. Quickly glancing over the other passengers, Roy noticed that they were all humans and that a certain raven-haired teen was with them.

"Raven…" he growled

"Well, well, well," Raven smirked, "has Mr. King of Morphs come to apologize to me?" Roy simply glared in response, a smile forming on his face

"Hey Tuneli, I think you have some competition for nicknames." He rested his hand on the Absol Hybrid's shoulder. "I saved this girl's life, and I'm instantly ostracized. This should be fun." He grins, but only received a scowl from Raven.

"Don't speak about that 'thing' as if it's one of us," one of the students snapped, pointing a finger at Tuenli.

"Humans and Morphs will never exist peacefully together," Raven stated. "They will steal our food, kill our families, and destroy our homes! All because they think that they're better just because they have some stupid special powers!" Several murmurs of agreement arise throughout the car.

"What?" Tuenli protested, advancing towards him. "You're using the actions of a few Hybrids to frame the rest of us? Let me tell you-!"

"Hold it, Trick!" Skyler urged, pulling her back. "You're only playing into his hands!"

"Sky's right," Roy agreed. "Trying to retaliate now would only justify his words." Tuenli pouted, and resorted to crossing her arms. This standoff continued for several seconds until a tan-skinned attendant with short, sandy-blond hair pulled into two pigtails walked into the car.

"Seats please! We underway in moment!" She spoke in a thick youthful Chinese accent. She soon noticed the mood of her passengers. Her bright, green eyes glanced around the car, before landing onto Raven. "Ara? What is problem?" Raven pointed at Roy, Skyler, and Tuenli.

"Those three are the problem. Morphs and Morph-lovers aren't welcomed in this car." More murmurs of agreement arise. The attendant looks at the trio, then back at Raven.

"Is because they like Hybrid?" Raven growled in response.

"Are you blind, lady? Of course they-!" To everyone's surprise, the attendant suddenly spun-kicked Raven in the cheek, sending him sprawling across the aisle.

"Ooh, Raven just got burned!"

"Damn! That's one tough chick!"

"Who does she think she is going in with guns blazing?"

"Bruce Lee apparently…" Hearing all these comments from the other passengers, the attendant got into a fighting stance that looked a lot like Kung Fu.

"You want to take me on?" she asked. "Bring it!" The attendant's radio crackled to life.

"_**FEI KU!"**_ The attendant stumbled back. _**"Are you fighting with the passengers again?!"**_ She picked up the radio that was on her waist. Surprisingly, it was upside down.

"Ara, you could hear that, Paru?" she asked. The voice on the radio quickly responded.

"_YES! You left something on the call button again! I don't want to have to tell The Doctor how we sent some of his students to the hospital!"_

"Ayah, yes…" She fixed the radio onto her belt, making sure it was right side up. She felt guilty now, and scratched the back of her neck. "I sorry," she apologized, as Raven began to stand back up. "I get carried away. But Shadow Wood Academy no discriminate against Hybrids. Neither do Shadow Wood Academy students." She points at the trio. "You allow them to sit." Raven glared at her, rubbing the spot where he had been kicked.

"Fine…They can sit down. In fact, they can have the entire car, because I'm not sitting anywhere near these freak lovers!" He walked to the next train car, purposely bumping into Roy on his way out. Most of the other passengers follow him, leaving only Roy, Skyler, Tuenli, the attendant, and a few humans who did not really cared about whole ordeal.

"I sorry for this," the attendant apologizes, turning to Roy. He shakes his head in reply.

"You couldn't do anything, so it wasn't your fault."

"Not trying to sound rude at all," Tuenli interrupts, "but are you new here? You seem very young." The attendant looked over at Tuenli, surprised at the question.

"Uh, um, yes! Yes! Just transfer from Jiangsu Region!"

"I don't know what they think over there," Tuenli continued, "but here, it's common knowledge to most humans that Hybrids like me are nothing but dirt. It's only the law that keeps us on equal terms."

"That mean!" the attendant exclaimed. "Best friend is Smeargle Hybrid! I make sure they cause no trouble until we arrive, okay?" Skyler nodded.

"That would be great, thanks!"

"Thank you, Miss," Roy said.

"No mention. I go back to work now." She walked past them, and into the car behind them, but not the one Raven had gone into, as the train lurched in motion.

"Seems rather young to be a railroad attendant," Tuneli muttered as Ku Fei disappeared through the door.

* * *

I~+*=*+~I

* * *

The jerk of the locomotives coupling together had awakened Gabriel Volantis. His calm, brown eyes opened slowly as he let out a groggily yawn. He brushed his dirty blond surfer-like hair out of his eyebrows. His girlfriend, Carmen Prescott, was resting her head on his lap. He readjusted the steel prosthetic arm beyond his left elbow, looked out the window, and watched as the train pulled out of the station.

"Hey, Cary," he said, gently shaking her awake. He shifted a lock of her waist-long brown hair covering her forehead, revealing a deep scar running from the middle of her forehead down to the bottom of her left cheek.

"M-mm?" Her soft green eyes reluctantly flutter opened. "Wh…what up?"

"I think we had stopped somewhere, but we just left the station. I'll find out where." He turned to where Akina was sitting. "Hey, Kina, where are we?"

"That attendant, Ku Fei, said that we were in Violet City," Akina said with Kela-la sleeping on her lap, sitting three seats back of the two. "We were combining the two trains into one for the last leg of the trip and picking up a few more last-minute passengers."

"That's odd," Gabriel commented.

"Weren't we supposed to go straight to through to the academy?" Carmen asked.

"Don't look at me," Akina replied, raising her hands in defense. "Ku Fei probably would know, but something's happening in the next car, and she went to check it out."

"You shouldn't address people of higher authority by their first name," Aliyah commented from her seat across from them, surprising Gabriel.

"You weren't here before," he comments.

"Sorry, we were on the Southern Train before the combination…I'm Aliyah Mikage, and this is Blake Charon."

"Why must you constantly group yourself with me, human?" the Duskull Hybrid complained

"Quiet, you! Don't make a scene. Anyway, there was a Shadow Charizard spotted in Ilex Forest, so they had to close the line past Goldenrod City until it was dealt with. We were diverted onto the mainline to Violet City. As for where the attendant is…Blake, can you go check it out?"

"Will you stop pestering me about me anatomy after this if I do?" Aliyah shrugged in response.

"Meh, I don't see why not." Blake immediately floated up and phased through the door. Everybody heard a few shouts coming from next door, and a few seconds later, Blake returned.

"It's that human again. Trick and her new human friends are trying to sit down there, but he's blocking them from doing so."

"Great," Aliyah groaned, slapping her forehead. "I've never met that Raven-kid before, and I've already come to dislike him."

"Try not to," Kellisa urged from her seat in front of Gabriel and Carmen. "Me, Gabe, and Cary had to live in the same town as him."

"What about Ku Fei?" Akina asked.

"The attendant's trying to ease the situation," Blake explains. "Though, I don't know how kicking him in the face will do that." A stunned silence fills the car.

"She did…what?" Carmen asked in disbelief. Aliyah burst out laughing.

"Oh, man! That's punishment for his attitude! Especially after how he treated Scotti for protecting Trick!"

"Who's Scotti?" Echo asked, sitting with Ali two seats behind Gabriel and Carmen.

"Whoa! You say he protected a Hybrid?" Gardie inquired, resting his head on the seat's back in curiosity with sudden energy for someone who had been asleep a few minutes ago.

"C-Can you tell us what happened?" Katherine asked.

"Actually, I wasn't there for the confrontation; I came after the fact. Blake, however, knows the whole story but sure. We have plenty of time before we reach the Academy, so why not?" The Duskull Hybrid brought up two issues with that suggestion as he took a seat.

"One, I'm not Mister Rogers. Two, Raven and his kind are coming into the car." All conversation stopped in the car.

"Wait, wha-?" The ambient temperature inside the car seemed to drop below zero as the door to the next car opened. Raven, followed by most of the occupants from the previous car, walked in. The black-haired teen was rubbing a red imprint of a high-heeled shoe on his right cheek.

"Jeez, that Morph-loving attendant sure has a strong kick," he complained. "I'd sure like to face her when there's room to use my zanbato."

"So, Raven, guess your romantic life isn't working out so well, huh?" Gabriel teased with an amused chuckle. Several other people laughed at the comment.

"Ha-ha, very funny, Gay-be," Raven retorted, giving the blond a dirty look before he noticed Ali still laughing. "What's so funny, freak?" he snapped. Immediately, she quickly stopped and trembled beneath Raven's stare.

"Wh-What…? Ah-ah, u-um…uh…"

"Hey, don't harass my little sister like that!" Echo yelled, getting into Raven's face.

"And why should I have to listen to a scumbag emo Morph like you?" he spat. This earned him a punch in the printed cheek. Raven yelped at the intensified sting, startling Kela-la awake. Echo had a blaze of fury in her eyes.

"I. Am. Not. Emo! Nor am I a Hybrid!" Raven rubbed his cheek, growling.

"This is why I hate to be around Morphs…" The teen looked at Ali, who was so terrified that she scrambled from her seat into the alleyway. He then proceeded to sit where the two sisters had sat moments before, purposely taking up both seats.

"Hey!" Echo yelled. "What are you doing?"

"What does it looked like? I'm sitting?"

"No shit, Sherlock. Why sit where we're sitting?"

"Simple. A seat like this is too good for Morphs or their lovers to be able to sit in."

"Have you not noticed that all the seats are exactly the same…?"

"Don't bother," Kellisa groaned, standing from her own seat. "It's not worth your time." She turned to Blake. "You said that this 'Scotti' guy is in the next car?"

"Technically, his name is Roy," Aliyah corrected before Blake could answer. "but, yes, he is in the next car."

"Good. I'd like to meet him. Can you introduce him to me?"

"M-Me too!" Katherine piped in, standing from her seat as well.

"Can I come too?" Akina asked.

"Ee-vuee!" Ke-la cooed happily.

"Sure," Aliyah answered, standing up and walking up next to Blake. "Come on, Blake. I still have a few things I want to ask you about."

"What? Didn't you say that I was done when I checked out the next car?"

"I'll only stop pestering about your anatomy. I never said anything about your dietary habits or your abilities. Now come on!"

"Son of a-!"

"No cursing!"

"Bah!" As the train began to pick up speed, Aliyah, Blake, Kellisa, Akina, Gardie, Katherine, Echo, and Ali all got up from their seats and ran into the next car as those from said car filled in the abandoned seats.

"Good riddance!" Raven muttered. "They were destroying the atmosphere." Gabriel and Carmen groaned and tried to go back to sleep…until someone dumped their stuff, which had originally been resting comfortably in the seat in behind them, right on top of them.

"Wah! What was that for?" Gabriel complained to the chunky teen who had moved their stuff.

"I'm sitting here," the teen replied without a care. Gabriel sighed as he and Carmen picked up their clothes and jewelry.

How much longer was this trip going to be? No one knew.

* * *

I~+*=*+~I

* * *

"Are you sure you can sit down with that thing?" Tuenli asked, pointing to Roy's zanbato.

"I've had no problem with it," Roy answered confidently, sliding into one seat. Unfortunately, fate had decided to play a cruel trick on him, and the zanbato made a tear in the seat. He stared sheepishly at the damage. "Er, there's always a first time?" Skyler snorted in amusement.

"Smooth, Scotti," she teased with a laugh, pointing at the yellow cushioning threatening to pop out of the tear.

"Pika-ha-ha!" Negi laughed. Tuenli grinned at his misfortune. Roy sighed.

"I'm getting a strange feeling that today is Pick On Roy Day…" he muttered. The three had taken their seats when the group from the other car came in.

"You guys got kicked out by Raven?" Tuenli asked.

"You better believe it, Trick," Aliyah answered with a sigh, crossing her arms.

"Hakase?"

"Aliyah?"

"Our car was full when he and his pals walked in, so they pushed us out and took our seats. Since there was no attendant in there at the time, we had to get out. At least we don't have to deal with him now for the time being. You don't mind if we all sit here?"

"Why would we?" Roy replied. "Save for a few other people, it's a little empty in here anyway." The large group of people entered the car.

"U-Um, Aliyah, who are these people?" Ali asked, peeking out from behind Echo.

"Yeah, how do you know them?" Kellisa added, her Pikachu ears and tail twitching curiously.

"They're Scotti, Skyler, and Trick," Aliyah answers, pointing at each person in correspondence to his or her name. "Scotti is the one who saved Trick and Blake from Raven and Lolli." Blake slapped his forehead.

"How many times do I need to say that I don't need saving?" the Duskull Hybrid complained.

"Hush, you!" Aliyah dragged him over to a seat. The others were staring curiously at Roy at a little-too-close-for-comfort range.

"Huh?" he wondered. "Is there something on my face?" Then, as if it hit the new group all at once…

"EH?-!-?-!" The others suddenly crowd around Roy, Skyler, and Tuenli, bombarding the three with all sorts of questions, especially Roy.

"You really beat those two?"

"Well, Lolli wasn't really fighting-"

"Is it true that he nearly killed you while saving you?"

"Um, I'd really not want to-"

"Why is the name 'Alyssa' inscribed in the sword?"

"I-It's a long-"

"Why is there a bulge in the back of your shirt?"

"Hey! Don't touch-!"

"Thank Arceus you pegged down that Hybrid-hater a notch or two!"

"Umm, don't mention-"

"I've never seen a shiny Pikachu before. He's so cute!"

"Chaaa!"

"Hold on! Hold on! One at a time!" Roy urged, laughing nervously. "Names first please; otherwise, I'll embarrass myself later." Everyone got the message and stepped back a bit.

"Sorry," Kellisa apologized sheepishly with a grin. "I'm Kellisa Moon from Celestic Town."

"U-Um…H-Hello…N-nice to meet y-you…" Ali squeaked. Echo stepped forward.

"Sorry. Ali is very shy. I'm Echo Greenleaf, and this is my sister, Ali. We live in Slateport City."

"Wait, you're sisters?" Tuenli asked in surprise, pointing between the sisters. Echo nodded.

"Ali was kidnapped and experimented on when she was little. That's why she's so shy. We don't know who did it though…" A downcast face from Skyler went unnoticed by the group.

"Huh…I've never heard of experimental Hybrids before," Gardie commented. "Anyway, my name is Gardie Conleth, like the outfielder for the Castelia City Yankees. I'm from Cinnabar."

"I'm Katherine, Kat for short. Like Kell, I'm from Celestic Town."

"Last but not least, I'm Akina with my pal, Kela-la!" Akina placed Kela-la on the ground.

"Ee-vuee-vee!"

"Pika, Pikachu!" Negi hopped off of his trainer's shoulder, and stood next to Kela-la. The two sniffed each other for a few seconds, and then they started their own casual conversation…in Pokémon language, of course. Skyler smiled, watching the two Pokémon interact, then turned to the group of people in the car.

"Nice to meet you all!" she said. "So who wants to go first?" For the rest of the trip, the group of humans and Hybrids chatted away, learning many things about each other, and quickly becoming close friends…well, except for Blake, whom Aliyah continuously pestered.

I~+*=*+~I

The line between Violet City and Shadow Wood Academy takes trains through the lush coastline of Suruga Bay, before tackling the mountains around Union Cave. The climb becomes rather tough here, as the route has steeps grades, sharp bends, and lengthy bridges and tunnels. The climbs used to be rather easy back in the days when the electric multiple unit equipment piled these rails, but ever since a group of Shadow Pokemon had obliterated Azalea Town off the map, the only people left in the area were those living in Shadow Wood Academy. Johto Regional Railway had sold the route to the Academy and de-energized the overhead wires; consequently, the Academy relies on a half-dozen steam locomotives obtained from the wreckage of the Fuchsia City Railroad Museum to maintain limited service between Violet, the Academy, and Goldenrod. They were not exactly suited for the terrain; most of the engines were over one hundred years old and were either yard shutters or were used in local service. Their two most powerful locomotives, 4-6-0 Number 3 and 4-6-2 Number 4, were designed for fast heavy freights and long-distance express passenger trains. Together, the two locomotives pounded along the rails, their headlamps swaying with the rocking motion of the train. While they never saw service on this particular line, together they were able to move the heavy train at speed.

A long viaduct was built not far after the summit tunnel in order to cross a steep gorge between mountain peaks. The viaduct was a bit over half a mile long, and while it was originally able to carry two tracks, only the left track is still in use, and the right track was torn up.

A curvy Smeargle Hybrid dressed in black stood in the center of the viaduct. Her black, sleeveless crop top accentuated her large cleavage, and had the letter R in a blood-red color. Her long green hair fell to just behind her knees. She adjusted her bottom-framed glasses.

"Ugh, I hope this is over with quickly," she muttered, holding her tail in lament in one hand. "Jim didn't even give me shorts with a hole for my tail." She pointed the aforementioned appendage at the bridge. "Sketch!" Green ink shot out from the tail, and splashed all over a large section of the viaduct. Slowly but surely, the ink faded away, forming a picture of a valley that can give one the impression that an explosion had occurred on the viaduct, and destroyed the middle three spans. "Alright, now time to duck and cover!" She ran across the bridge to the other side, and ducked behind a rock near the line.

Not long afterwards, the Academy train exited the summit tunnel and swung around the curve just before the viaduct. As it did, its headlamp shown across the length of the viaduct, revealing what looked like an outage on a few of the bridge segment. The engineer of the first locomotive quickly blew the locomotive's whistle in a succession of short blasts and applied the brakes, followed shortly by the same actions undertaken by the engineer in second locomotive. The train rapidly slowed down, brakes screeching as they were pressed against the steel wheels. Sparks flew, and finally, the train jerked to a stop five feet from the supposed outage.

* * *

I~+*=*+~I

* * *

In the violently shaking coaches, the lights blinked out, and everyone tossed around like Mexican jumping beans.

"Ugh…" Roy groaned. "I-Is everyone okay?"

"If Gardie could get his head out of my chest, I would be…" Tuenli growled.

"Yip! Sorry, Trick!" Gardie apologized, quickly getting up.

"I-I'm still here…" Skyler groaned, feeling an ache in her back.

"Pi…ka…" Negi strained to get his tail unstuck from Skyler's leg.

"Get your filthy hands off me, woman!" Blake snapped, his face heating over where Aliyah's hand was.

"If you haven't noticed, we're stuck under Echo at the moment…" Aliyah deadpanned in a know-it-all tone, equally embarrassed.

"Ali! Where are you?" Echo shouted, seemingly uncaring of the two that were underneath her

"I've got her!" Akina answered, holding onto Ali's hand.

"Vee-vee!" Kela-la cried out in muffles, suffocating underneath Ali.

"What was that?" Katherine asked. Suddenly, the sharp sound of whistles pierced the air.

"Four short blasts…" Roy pondered, getting up. "That means an emergency stop…" He hurried over to a window, opened it, and looked outside. What he saw made him gasp. "No way! The bridge is gone!"

"What?-!" Echo gasped.

"You sure?-!" Gardie asked.

"Yeah! No, wait, hold on…They're people…walking over the gap?"

"Huh?" Katherine asked in confusion. Aliyah got up and moved over to the window and looked out too.

"It's a Smeargle Hybrid's doing!" she exclaimed. "Their Sketch attack, instead of copying an opponent's attack, can paint an incredibly realistic picture!"

"So some smart Hybrid painted the bridge to look like it was damaged…" Kellisa commented, looking out a window as well. "But why?" A thought came to Roy, and he suddenly paled

"Oh, crap…"

"Something wrong, Scotti?" Akina asked. The lights flickered back on, and the car door opened. "Oh, Ku-!"

"Welcome to Summit!" Ku Fei interrupted. She was no longer wearing her attendant's uniform. Instead, she was wearing a black uniform, similar to the uniform that the Smeargle Hybrid wore. Next to her stood a blue-eyed, blond-haired teen in a similar outfit, except that his uniform was a black, long-sleeved shirt and pants. The teen grinned, pointing at them for a dramatic effect.

"In the name of Team Rocket, we claim all of your Pokémon as ours!"

"Wh-What?-!" Roy exclaimed in disbelief.

"Team Rocket?-!" Echo gasped.

"But you're kidding, right? They were broken up five years ago!" Aliyah stated. The blond-haired teen tsked her.

"Nuh-uh-uh!" He wagged a finger. "That's what we wanted the media to believe. Team Rocket has been hiding underground for years in order to regroup, but now it's time for us to come out of the woodworking!"

"So hand over all Pokémon!" Ku Fei demanded. Like the blond teen, she pointed her finger at them for a dramatic effect.

"Are you outta' your mind?" Echo yelled. "We'd never give our Pokémon to the likes of you!

"That's right!" Roy added, protectively standing in front of the group. "You're going have to battle us first!"

"Pika, Pikachu!" Negi chimed in agreement. The blond-haired teen smirked, and glanced over to his partner.

"Heh, they've got a tough bunch of freshmen this year, huh, Ku?" His Chinese partner nodded.

"Yep." She pointed dramatically at the group of humans and Hybrids again. "Alright, we take challenge!"

"Huh?"

"We're men of honor, no?" the blond Team Rocket member explained. "So we'll face you guys in an old-fashioned Pokémon battle. No weapons, no guns, no trickery. If you win, we'll retreat and leave you guys alone."

"But if you lose, we take all Pokémon and Hybrids as well!"

"Woah, wait!" Gardie interrupted. "Since when did we become your playtoys?" The blonde raised an eyebrow.

"If you remember, we're the ones who created you Hybrids. So that means all of your kind belong to us!"

"At least you're respectful of us," Kellisa admitted. "Not like some people…"

"Ku," Akina gasped, her eyes watering, "how can you be so mean to everyone? After all that time we chatted on the way from Sinnoh?"

"Sorry," Ku Fei answered, shrugging. "Cover for job."

"How is slacking off on the job a cover?" her partner wondered. "You might have gotten thrown off between Sinnoh and Kanto."

"Er…my bad?" Ku Fei sheepishly replied. Roy stepped forward.

"It looks like we're not getting out of this without a fight. I'll accept your terms, you crooks!" He turned behind him. "Everyone, fall back to the rear of the car!"

"You're taking these two on alone?-!" Katherine gasped. "That's dangerous!"

"We don't have much of a choice," Roy stated. "The car isn't wide enough for more than one battle at a time. And since this is Team Rocket, we don't know if they're going to attack from behind or from outside. Keep a good lookout."

"Right!" Skyler agreed. Roy nodded, and turned back to face the two Team Rocket members.

"Eh?" Echo was confused. "You're letting him take them on alone? Shouldn't you of all people be worried about him?" The blonde smiled, and turned to look at her friend.

"Let's just say I feel more afraid for the well-being of Team Rocket rather than Scotti," she replied with confidence.

"No room to use the Zanbato," Roy muttered, "but at least it can be used as a shield. Wouldn't matter anyway since weaponry isn't allowed. Negi, I need you right now. Get ready!"

"Pika!" The Electric Mouse Pokemon stood in front of his trainer, sparks releasing from his cheeks.

"Not bad," the male Team Rocket member commended. "Having a Pikachu is the best choice of partners in these times for the first-timers, but a Shiny is very rare!"

"Wonder what boss will give us when we present it to him?" Ku Fei wondered. The two took out Pokéballs from their belts. "Now let's-"

**"Hold it!"** Everyone turned to the opposite end of the car, and found a male teen, whose skin looked as if it had never seen the sun much, standing in the middle of the aisle. His neck-length, jet-black hair parted in the middle. A small scar ran down from his right eye to his cheek, and a pentagram-shaped birthmark rested on the back of his right hand. The teen's sapphire-blue eyes, although the right eye seems slightly paler than the other, glared at the Team Rocket members.

"Who are you?" the male Rocket grunt asked, gritting his teeth.

"None of your business." He turned to Roy. "But I'm tagging up with you."

"You did hear what I said, right?" Roy asked, a little bewildered. "There isn't enough room for a double battle."

"Trust me," the teen answered. "My contribution to the fight won't take up a lot of space." Roy smiled at the emergence of an apparent ally although unsure of whether the limited amount of space would be able to accomodate the other teen.

"Alright, suit yourself." He then turned back to the battle. "Negi! First strike with Iron Tail!"

"Pika!" Negi replied, hopping into the air. His tail began to glow in a silvery metallic sheen, as it was prepared to be brought down onto his enemies. "Chuu…Pika!"

"Chao, Mach Punch!" Ku Fei quickly released her Pokemon, an abnormally large Hitmontop.

"Montop!" The Handstand Pokemon quickly cocked her fist and slammed it into Negi's tail. The attacks cancelled each other out. Negi somersaulted back in front of Roy, while Chao slid in front of her trainer.

"Nice block girl!" Ku Fei commended.

"Top-montop!"

"Woah, woah! Did I hear that correctly? Did you say that your Hitmontop was female?" Aliyah asked. Any Pokémon within the Hitmon-species were all male. A female Hitmontop was virtually _impossible _to find, but this was a rather surprising case. The Chinese Team Rocket member nodded.

"Yup! Caught in Vietnam, I did!" Meanwhile, the other Team Rocket member released his Pokemon.

"Kiwi, I choose you!" His Pokéball released a shiny Granbull.

"Granbull!" The Fairy Pokémon bared its his fangs.

"So first a female Hitmontop, and now a shiny Granbull?" Echo stated. "Just what's with these Pokémon?" Because of the positioning of the trainers in the car, Negi was to face off against Chao, while Kiwi faced off against…

"Hey, where's that guy's Pokémon?" Gardie wondered, watching the mystery teen. The blond-haired teen made a cocky grin.

"So, are you going to just let my little Kiwi turn you into kibbles and bits?"

"Bull! Granbull!"

"No," the black-haired teen calmly answered. "But…I find it strange that two kids are assigned to rob a train full of powerful trainers and Hybrids." The two Team Rocket members took a surprised step back.

"Huh?" Ku Fei wondered. "What you mean?" Everyone else was just as equally confused, wondering what the teen was suggesting.

"What's he going at?" Katherine wondered.

"Also, you did say that we were a tough group of freshmen," the teen continued. "Couple that with the fact that your Pokémon would more likely be sold on the black market than given to young grunts, and I don't believe you to be Team Rocket agents. Are you sure you're not students here?"

The two Rocket grunts blinked, glancing at each other in confusion.

"Never hear that before," Ku Fei commented.

"Check in with Haruna?" Odd suggested. She picked up a radio attached to her waist.

"Hey, Paru, does guessing that we fake count as a victory?"

"Eh?-!" everyone but Blake and the mysterious teen gasped, staring wide-eyed and jaw-dropping at the grunts.

_"What?-!"_ the Smeargle Hybrid's voice boomed over the radio. _"You actually got found out. They didn't defeat you?"_

"Yeah. Bad idea to use me and Odd for this. We no act professional, and me too short anyway." An audible sigh was heard over the radio.

_"I told that idiot, Jim, that you guys would blow it, but did he listen to me? No! He had to ramble on about how he had to wrestle a Bibarel in Unova, and then not want to talk about it! Ugh, hang on a sec…" _Static! Crackle! Click!

"So…if you're not with the Rockets, who are you with?" Tuenli inquired. The two took off their berets.

"I'm Odd. Odd Deraro!" the blond teen said, pointing a thumb at himself.

"And me Ku Fei!"

"On behalf of Shadow Wood Academy, congratulations on passing your first test!" This confused the group even more.

"Wait, this was a test?" Kellisa asked.

"Yep!" Odd replied. "This was to test your resolve for you comrades in battle. In the fight against the Shadow Pokémon, it is important to be able to rely on your teammates, because you never know when you find yourself in a jam and need help."

"Gee," Tuenli said sarcastically. "I wonder if a certain raven-haired individual won't get a full pass." This garnered a few chuckles out of the group.

"Anyway, you all pass!" Ku Fei stated. "You're all fit to be part of your own Shadow Wood Academy teams, just like we are in." Before she could continue, her radio crackled again.

_"Ku, you still there?"_ She fumbled to pick it up and ended up holding it upside-down to her ear.

"Yes! Yes!"

"Since Jim hasn't given me a clear answer…" Haruna tugged on her shorts. "…and these shorts are making my panties ride up, I'll give your car a pass. You're the last one to finish up anyways. Everyone else had already been dispatched."

_"Aw! Why we last?"_

"That's just how it is, Kufi. I'll tell the engineer to continue on, and then I'll join you in the coach. Which one are you in?"

_"Uh…let see…745."_

"Gotcha', thanks!" Haruna hooked her radio to her belt and took out a flashlight. The Smeargle Hybrid shone the light forward towards the locomotives, and waved it up and down like a lantern to get the engineers' attentions. "All clear!"

**Woo! Woo!** The two engines slowly began to move their drivers, and the train began to inch forward. Haruna waited for the correct coach that Ku Fei had told her to appear in to pass. As it did, she grabbed the handrail with her tail, climbed aboard through a window, and took a seat right next to Ali.

"Hey, can I use this for a sec?" Before the Glaceon Hybrid could answer, Haruna swiped one of the Ali's swords out of its holder with her tail.

"Wah!" Ali jumped in surprise as she felt the sword leaving her person.

"What do you think you're doing, stealing my sister's weapons like that?" Echo demanded. "Return it this…instant…" She paused when she saw what Haruna was doing. The Smeargle used the sword to cut a hole in the back of her shorts for her tail.

"And it's done!" the Smeargle Hybrid said, returning the sword back to Ali. "You do very well to keep yur blades sharp."

"T-Thank you…" the Glaceon Hybrid said, blushing at the compliment.

"Now to slip my tail through it…" However, she didn't use her hands to do the adjustment. The Smeargle Hybrid pulled her pants down, revealing something white that caused the all occupants in the car to turn a deep shade of red.

"H-Hey!" Kellisa spluttered, trying to cover the eyes of some of the younger passengers. "H-Have some decency, will you?-!"

"Ara, sorry about this," Ku Fei admitted. "Paru can be…"

"A little oblivious to ecchiness, as we say," Odd finished. Their two Pokemon nodded in agreement.

"You think?-!" Gardie retorted as he and the other male occupants tried averting their eyes. At last, Haruna threaded her tail through the new hole in her pants, and pulled them back up around her waist. The hole was oversized, however, and it still revealed much of her panties to whoever was behind her.

"Ahhh, this feels much better," the green haired girl sighed in relief. She then noticed the others in the room. "Huh? Why are you guys redder than a tamato berry?"

"Because you decided to strip, that's why!" Echo stated.

"How else was I going to get out of those uncomfortable pants without doing that?" Haruna retorted. "I had to go half the night with my tail squeezed onto my back!"

"Haruna, calm down!" Odd urged. "At least you don't have to walk back to the Academy." The Smeargle Hybrid seemed to cool off a bit at that statement.

"Well, I suppose you're right," she conceded. "Anyway, I don't think I introduced myself properly to everyone else that's in this car." Turning to face the group of people, Hybrids, and Pokemon, she quickly bowed towards them, a large, sincere smile on her face. "The name's Haruna Satame. I'm the third member of Code Magic, one of the task groups in Shadow Wood Academy, along with Ku Fei and Odd." One by one, introductions went throughout the car, as everyone got to know each other. "It's nice to meet you all!"

"I've got a question," Aliyah piped up. "If the three of you are here, where is your fourth member?"

"What do you mean?" Akina asked, curious at the question posed.

"Well, I've read that once we get to Shadow Wood Academy, we'll be broken up into teams of four," Aliyah explained. "Since the foundation of Shadow Academy, all teams have had four members." Then she turned back to Haruna. "And if that's the case, than that means that you guys have a fourth person who's not here."

"She does have a point there," Skyler admitted. "I remember reading that too."

"Oh, him?" Odd chuckled. "Well, he was called away to help with a situation at the Academy at the last moment. I'm sure you'll meet him eventually." Haruna smiled.

"Actually, you may see him as soon as we arrive at the Academy." This confused the group.

"What do you mean?" Roy asked.

His only reply was a wry smile. "Oh, you'll see."

The sun finally rose high into the sky over Shadow Wood Academy. Its rays glistened off the green tile roof of the station building, where a blue six-wheeled tank engine, SWA No. 1, simmered on the far station track. The points changed from the far track to the near platform, and a whistle signified the arrival of the train carrying the new students for Shadow Wood Academy. The train glided through the two switches, and stopped gently beside the platform. Within minutes, the new students flooded the platform, and began moving to the next location that they were to go.

Some of the students took in the majestic beauty of the campus, which inevitably brought their gaze up to the dome that capped the main building. Those students swore that they could see a white-haired teen sitting on the roof, smiling at them from above.

* * *

I~+*=*+~I

* * *

_Biggest thing: I promise the next chapter won't take me five months to edit. I think SaME will say whatever I want to say about the story, so I'll let her say it in her remarks. So, read, review, follow, and check out our other works. I will see you guys next time. Ja ne!_

_Ketchum Kid_

_Btw, if any any of y'all would like for me to draw a picture of your OC(s), like I did for KKid's OC, and/or have your OC paired with someone, feel free to PM me. All OC characters are potential love interests unless specified not to be under their profile. No, do not ask me to pair you with a canon character. Remember, all OC profiles are on KKid's forum, which you can get to from the URL on either my or KKid's profile. The next chapter might be awhile since our I can't seem to get in touch with our third co-writer. Anyway, I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter. See y'all next time!_

_-SaME_


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